The Perfect Swarm
It was raining in the canoe on the bay lake. A hard rain. The kind of rain that encouraged my wife try like hell to bail water with her coffee cup.
Two days earlier…
It was a Friday. The crew and I assembled in the aft quarters to review the weather reports. They said there was a 10% chance of rain on Saturday and a 30% chance on Sunday. We decided to depart on Sunday.
One day earlier…
On one hand it was a good decision to delay because it gave us an extra day to perform dry runs. We ran equipment checks and drills. Our first trip had caught us unprepared. I’d be damned if that was going to happen on my watch.
We took some time on Saturday and got the rigging down to a science. That last portage had almost killed us.
While the canoe was out of the garage, we decided to go home improvement on this old house. For some strange reason we were tired of dry dock consisting of the canoe precariously balanced on the refrigerator and an old bookcase.
How To Have Fun In A Canoe
Lean in the same direction as your companion. This is also known as “swimming.”
A one-hour construction project was about to go 500 percent past deadline.
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Paddle Me Canoe Edition
Every great expedition begins with a solid plan. Seen here is an artist’s conceptual drawing of everything we imagined. We were decidedly not on solid ground.
Sauvie Island by Canoe
A Year Ago
Have you ever wanted something? Which do you think is preferable? Achieving it or remaining an interminable infinite loop of denial?
One year ago we moved to the big city of Portland, Oregon. Soon after we stunned by the sheer number of outside things to do. Tucked away here and there amidst the urban sprawl were remarkable natural areas to explore. I no longer remember how but somehow we became fixated on the idea of getting a canoe.
Owning a canoe became a frequent topic of discussion during the next year. We imagined the places we would go. We envisioned it as easy and inexpensive way to enjoy our new home. Need something to do? Just throw the canoe on the car and hit one of the many interesting places: rivers, lakes, sloughs and more. Viola.
I’d been in a canoe one before, but that was at church camp like 30 summers ago. I didn’t recall any bad memories so it must have been easy and fun. Right?
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Short Story: When the Wind Tanks #BlogShorts
When the Wind Tanks
by Tom B. Taker
The clear fresh blue was a flat calm. The Great Sucking was held at bay.
He stood proudly on his craft festooned in a navy blue jacket with brass buttons.
—
This post is part of the BlogShorts challenge. June 2011 – 30 stories – 30 words – 30 days.
If health care was a boat named Titanic …
I had a thought today. “What if health care in the United States was a little boat known as the Titanic?”
The first thing I realized is that rich old white men would probably be the owners of all the lifeboats so they’d be tasked with determining the order of loading those lifeboats. I’m sure they’d be completely fair and unbiased about it.
Rich old white men safely loaded onto lifeboats. Check!
After that, though, what then? I’d assume pregnant women and young children would still get some consideration regardless of their scrilla status.
After that, the remaining folks would be prioritized by wealth and in an indirect way, pretty much by race as well. That’s an excellent way to do it, right?
Shouts from the Abyss 
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